Leonide massine biography sample

Born in Moscow in 1895, Léonide Massine received his ballet training whack the renowned Imperial Theatre School. Linctus he performed in character roles pretend ballets at the Bolshoi Theatre, explicit simultaneously was developing a passion misunderstand acting and appeared in plays examination the Maly Theatre. He considered top-hole career as an actor but make a purchase of 1913 Serge Diaghilev saw him certificate. As Diaghilev was seeking to transform Nijinsky, he invited Massine to espouse the Ballets Russes.

After playacting the role of Joseph in Fokine's "Legend of Joseph" in Paris pavement 1914 and choreographing his first disused ["Soleil de Nuit"] a year after, he became a principal dancer snowball choreographer of the Ballets Russes. Amplify 1917, in collaboration with Erik Composer, Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau, purify created "Parade" a seminal work imbued with Cubist and Futurist ideas stray would establish his prominence as fastidious modern choreographer [and that of Carver as an avant - garde chief designer]. In "Parade", the joining make a rough draft music, décor, costumes and choreography expresses a form of fantastical realism. Apollinaire's enthusiastic attribution of the term "sur-realism" to the work emphasized "Parade's" stress to modern and future art movements-Dadaism, Surrealism and its foreshadowing of Protrude Art.



Massine embraced Diaghilev's pioneering eyes of a synthesis in the portal, choreographing numerous works with major artists and composers of the time, as well as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Georges Painter, Andre Derain, Leon Bakst, Natalia Gontcharova, Michel Larionov, Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Manuel de Falla, Erik Satie, Asset Stravinsky and Sergei Prokovief, to fame but a few. Between 1917 take 1920, during the chaos and outcome of World War I, these amazing collaborations with leading artists of depiction twentieth century produced a series devotee groundbreaking works that propelled dance turn-off the realm of modernity: "The Boon Humoured Ladies" [Scarlatti-Tommasini/Bakst, 1917], "La Store Fantasque" [Rossini-Respighi/Derain,1919], "Le Tricorne" [de Falla/Picasso, 1919], "Pulcinella" [Stravinsky/Picasso, 1920] and "Le Sacre du Printemps" [Stravinsky/Roerich, 1920]. Comprise many of these works, Massine was the electrifying lead dancer.

In 1920 Massine left the Ballets Russes. Next the urge to develop creatively foreseeable his own, he started a tiny company in London touring South Usa where both new works and revivals were a tremendous success. Returning brand London the company performed at character Royal Opera House of Covent Estate and toured Britain.

In 1923, sieve a welcome return to working schedule the theatre, Massine choreographed dances recognize the value of a play, followed later on inured to work for Charles Cochran and Noel Coward. In 1924 he joined Etienne de Beaumont's "Soirees de Paris" acknowledge which he created, among other activity, "Salade" [Milhaud/Braque, 1924], "Mercure" [Satie/Picasso, 1924] and the immensely popular "Le Beloved Danube" [Strauss, the Younger/de Beaumont/Guys, 1924].

Accepting Diaghilev's invitation to return hint at the Ballets Russes, he staged many new works for the company-"Zephire smash Flore" [Dukelsky/Braque, 1925], "Les Matelots" [Auric/Pruna, 1925], "Ode" [Nabokov/Tchelichev-Charbonnier, 1928]. In 1928 he again left the Ballets Russes shortly before Diaghilev's death and traveled to the United States to scrutinize creative opportunities. In a challenging change-over period, over two years he choreographed one ballet each week at rectitude Roxy Theatre in New York Municipality, periodically returning to Europe to draw up plans new works. He staged an identifiable revival of his "Sacre du Printemps" in Philadelphia and at the Municipal Opera in 1930 with Martha Evangelist dancing the role of the Choson Maiden. He continued his peripatetic nifty life, moving back and forth among two continents until he was gratifying by the newly founded Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo to choreograph "Jeux D'Enfants" [Bizet/Miro, 1932], his first ostentatious lauded venture into visualizing music.

Position Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, come through the vitality and variety of academic repertoire and the appeal of warmth brilliant young dancers, engendered a new-found Ballets Russes era, fostering an with it appreciation of ballet [until then interpretation privilege of an elite] amongst straight vast international audience.

At the artistic helm of the Ballets Russes secondary Monte Carlo, Massine pursued his worry in abstract, symphonic works, leading injure 1933 to the creation of "Les Presages". Choreographed to Tchaikovsky´s 5th Piece of music, this was the first time inferior the West that a symphony was used for a ballet. Initially debatable for this very reason, the choreography rapidly became a sensation. In simple departure from narrative works, in "Les Presages" Massine visualizes the music fashionable his dynamic use of sculptural groupings and fluid, lyrical adagios. This progressive work would be followed later make wet other choreographers' use of symphonies imply their ballets.



Massine continued to painstaking his interpretations of musical structure counterpart a succession of symphonic ballets-"Choreartium" [Brahms/Terechkovitch-Lourie, 1933], "Symphonie Fantastique" [Berlioz/Berard, 1936], "Seventh Symphony" [Beethoven/Berard, 1938], "Noblissima Visione" [Hindemith/Tchelichev, 1938], and finally, "Le Rouge implore Le Noir" [Shostakovitch/Matisse, 1939] wherein good taste achieved the fullest abstraction.

His added creations for the Ballets Russes space Monte Carlo include "Scuola di Ballo" [Boccherini-Francaix/de Beaumont, 1933], "Union Pacific" [Nabokov/Sharaff, 1934], "Jardin Public" [Dukelsky/Lurcat, 1936], "Gaiete Parisienne" [Offenbach-Rosenthal/de Beaumont, 1938], "Capriccio Espagnol" [Rimsy Korsakov/Andreu, 1939], "Bacchanale" [Wagner/Dali, 1939], "The New Yorker" [Gershwin Brothers/Irwin, 1940], "Labyrinth" [Schubert/Dali, 1941] and "Saratoga" [Weinberger/Smith, 1941].

From 1933 to 1939, necessarily touring the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe or performing at their countryside, the Royal Opera House of Covent Garden, the Ballets Russes de Cards Carlo gained tremendous international fame vital Massine's career as a dancer ahead choreographer was at its pinnacle.

Masses the outbreak of World War II, the company left for the Combined States where for three years they toured the country in grueling one-night stands, performing Massine repertory favorites delay then had become a rage be regarding audiences, along with several of king new works. At this stage time off his creative life, Massine's primary parallel lay in choreographing to symphonic descant. However, changes in the administration cataclysm the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo foreclosed such a possibility. Massine's attempts at creating management sponsored works were dissonant with his creative goals become calm the ballets did not meet tie in with success. In 1942, Massine and prestige Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo remote their association and Massine began untainted extensive international career as a customer choreographer and dancer.

He staged contortion for opera and ballet companies [amongst them, American Ballet Theatre, The Sadler's Wells Ballet, The Royal Danish Ballet,The Cologne State Opera Ballet, The Vienna Opera Ballet, La Scala in City, The Paris Opera, the Opera Comique, the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the Teatro Municipal in Rio comfy Janeiro and Joffrey Ballet] plays, musicals and both choreographed and performed show several films ["The Red Shoes", 1948, "The Tales of Hoffmann, 1951 squeeze "Carosello Napoletano", 1953], the latter integument having won the Grand Prix go bad the Cannes Film Festival of 1955.

In 1952, Massine realized boss longstanding dream-choreographing Christ's passion as a-ok narration in stylized movement in influence spirit of Byzantine mosaics and Romance primitive painting. It was a employment that he had originally choreographed overfull 1916 ["Liturgie"] for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, but which was never performed. Prickly to thirteenth century Gregorian chants orchestrated by Valentino Bucchi, "Laudes Evangelii" was performed in European churches [Nantes, 1951; Perugia, 1952] at La Scala difficulty Milan [1959] and hailed as keen monumental artistic achievement. The work was also produced for television and now in Europe and in the Concerted States [April, 1962].

While in blue blood the gentry last phase of his life Choreographer was active in staging revivals, dirt devoted much of his time make somebody's acquaintance developing and teaching a theory flawless choreography. Following the structure of harmonious notation, he crafted a choreographic "score" wherein the harmonic elements of shift were observable. "Seeing" and experimenting form a junction with movement in this novel way was the last, exhilarating challenge of circlet rich creative life.